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and in the hills near her house, authorities were no closer to finding her—even with the offer of $100,000 in reward money, the work of at least two private detectives and more than 1,200 leads from psychics and others who had called the Escondido Police Department (EPD) with tips. Although not to the same extent as Chelsea’s disappearance, Amber’s missing person’s case was also widely publicized, with her photo making the cover of People magazine in November 2009. But there was still no sign of her.
    Moe, an electronic telecommunications engineer, and Carrie, who worked for a printing business, were among the hundreds of volunteer searchers who came out to look for Chelsea and to give the Kings their support. Many of these volunteers were diverted by law enforcement and the yellow police tape from what was soon deemed a giant crime scene, so they headed off with handfuls of flyers they planned to post in their respective communities instead.
    Meanwhile, inside the yellow tape, about 160 trained searchers and law enforcement personnel from local, state and federal agencies searched the area that night. And in the coming days, lifeguards and water rescue dive teams from every surrounding county joined the search after a call for mutual aid went out at 3:00 A.M. , Friday. They combed the land on foot with tracking dogs, on horseback, on quads and other all-terrain vehicles. They searched the water in boats and walking shoulder to shoulder in diving equipment. Hi-tech drone aircraft were flown by remote control, helicopters searched using infrared scopes and underwater robots took photos on the lake bottom.
    The response was overwhelming. Everyone, it seemed, was on the lookout for Chelsea King.
    â€œWe’re literally moving heaven and earth to find this little girl,” said Jan Caldwell, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department.
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    Standing at Linda Osborn’s bedside in the hospital, John Gardner gave what sounded like a good-bye to his maternal grandmother.
    â€œI know that you just want all of us to get along, and I want you to know that I’m not mad at Uncle Mike anymore,” he told her, referring to a screaming match they’d had a week earlier at Linda’s house. John had always been close with his grandmother, and it seemed to Cathy that he was scared Linda was about to die.
    Before Cathy and John got home from the hospital early Sunday, they made a plan to meet at the North County Fair shopping mall, now officially known as Westfield North County, for lunch around noon. Cathy figured she’d take him back to Lake Elsinore later that day, or first thing Monday.
    â€œI’ve got to make sure I don’t go past my five days,” John said, referring to the deadline after which he would need to reregister with a new residential address, or as a transient, under Megan’s Law, the national law governing sex offenders.
    Cathy wasn’t sure if the day in L.A. would count toward the five days, but after he’d been cited twice for possessing marijuana while on parole, she wanted to support any effort he made to follow the law.
    By the time Cathy got up later that morning, John had already left the condo.
    He left her a message at 10:00 A.M. that he was at the park. “I went walking and when I went across the bridge, the search team and the sheriff were there,” he said. “There’s yellow tape up, so I had to go the long way.”
    After hearing the park trails were blocked off, Cathy changed her usual Sunday-morning jogging route, heading toward Lake Poway on residential streets, instead. She only made it to a park on the way to her destination before turning back, though, because she was too physically and emotionally exhausted to go the distance.
    John left her a second message at eleven-thirty, advising her that he was going to be thirty minutes late for lunch. “I’m going to start heading my way back to the mall,”